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The
General Assembly finally wound up its business and
went home a couple of weeks ago.
This year’s session was a spend-fest
compared to last year’s tax-fest.
Thanks
to an expanding economy, our state’s Treasury is
overflowing with “extra” money.
When Gov. Mark R. Warner presented his
budget amendments in December, a surplus of around
$918 million was projected in the current two-year
budget. By
the time the General Assembly got down to drafting
a “revised and updated” budget, that surplus
had grown to more than $1.2 billion.
And it is projected that the surplus could
balloon to over $2 billion by the end of this
budget cycle in June 2006.
After
ending the state’s portion of the food tax a
year early, more than $800 million went to
transportation and additional funds were spent on
state employee salary increases, teacher
increases, health care spending and on and on.
But
the spenders didn’t manage to put a relatively
small amount of money into the re-crafting of the
state budget so that our senators and delegates
could better understand where and how well our
money is being spent -- even though some of our
top budget leaders admit that the current budget
document is complicated, obtrusive and not a good
management tool.
Most
states have budgets that are easy to understand. Virginia
does not.
Check
it out for yourself. Do
you understand it? Try to figure out how
our money is being spent in any real detail.
You can’t.
Two
years ago the General Assembly overwhelmingly
passed a resolution demanding a state budget that
could be understood.
Last
year the House “held over” specific
legislation to this year that would have required
a new budget document.
And then, last April, Gov. Warner signed an
Executive Order to bring a working group together
to craft a more user-friendly budget.
But
the House allowed this important bill to die by
not bringing it back this year.
There was no effort made to amend any
relevant bill with this needed budget reform.
And Gov. Warner has never convened his
“working group.”
So
our elected leaders remain in the dark on how our
taxes are being spent compared to their colleagues
in most other states. And the public is in the
dark as well.
Some
key leaders claimed this year that “we can’t
afford the price tag” for re-designing the state
budget. That’s
just plane nonsense.
Let’s look at the facts: The
initial cost for budget redesign was estimated at
$5 million (although many budget experts doubt
that figure). The
annual cost beyond that was about $400,000 a year,
in exchange for which legislators, business
leaders, the press corps, and other interested
people would have access to a budget that could be
understood.
Even
if the $5 million price tag were accurate for
designing the new budget document, it would have
only been four tenths of one percent of the total
surplus that the General Assembly spent this year.
Yet, legislators seem content in running
the state in the dark without the needed
management tool that any private sector Board of
Directors would demand.
So
now the question is this:
Will Gov. Warner come up with a newly
designed and more easily understood budget
document on his own? The Executive Order he signed
a year ago shows his interest in moving in this
direction.
And
rumors around Richmond
are that a new budget design is “in the
works.” But
so far, if a new budget is being designed, it is
under wraps and we don’t know if it will really
present a more transparent state budget giving a
more accountable and verifiable approach to
current government spending.
One
of the biggest legacies this governor can leave to
the citizens of Virginia is a budget document that
clearly details how our tax money is spent, how
well state programs are functioning and what the
real costs are for providing various services, and
that shows a two- or three-year overview of how
agencies have spent our money.
If
Gov. Warner completes his term by presenting a
true “Citizens Budget” similar to what states
such as California, Maryland, North Carolina,
South Carolina and Florida have crafted, then he
will be leaving a legacy that allows legislators,
business leaders, community activists, reporters
and others to better understand how our money is
being spent.
If
Gov. Warner does this, he will have begun a
process that could indeed bring state spending
under control.
--
March 14, 2005
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